The contrasting fortunes of the national men’s rugby and football teams have sparked yet another debate on which sport is the true national sport where the perceivably “failing” governing body is going wrong and where the “succeeding” governing body is going right.
You could make the case that the success of the men’s rugby team in previous Six Nations and Rugby World Cups have papered over the cracks in rugby below international level.
What’s more difficult to judge is whether recent performances are “chickens coming home to roost” for the WRU, or a transitional period between the Gatland-era “golden generation” and the next generation of players.
Sport is naturally cyclical. A few of the current golden generation of men’s footballers are moving closer to international retirement. Also, if it wasn’t for the Nations League providing more competitive international matches, Wales would probably struggle to get more than 11-12,000 people to turn up for friendlies to fill the gap between qualifying campaigns.
Zero-tolerance towards anti-social behaviour – Compared to the 1970s and 1980s, football has gone a long way to clean up its act, largely because it’s more tightly regulated. Incidents at Welsh international football matches still happen (usually between rival club supporters) but are increasingly rare. While hooliganism is still a problem more generally it’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be.
Rugby internationals will always be considered a social event as much as a sporting one. That horse has bolted and there’s little that can be done to change that now; the daffodil hats and sheux are here to stay. As was, and sometimes remains, the case in football it’s the pissheads that ruin everything.
The WRU has made steps to curb poor fan behaviour, but if the Senedd had the powers (safety at sports grounds is non-devolved) they could consider introducing a rugby-specific equivalent of the Football Spectators Act, opening the door for things like rugby-specific banning orders.
See the supporters as more than living cash machines – As has been mentioned by many others, the FAW has fully embraced fan culture. There’s no rugby equivalent of The Red Wall and the recent piping in of music to the Principality Stadium has to be a low point for rugby as a spectator sport in Wales.
The higher echelons of the rugby administration have taken their establishment position for granted. As a result, they’ve seen football steal their thunder – something they perhaps convinced themselves would never happen because they make more money than the FAW, know politicians will bend over backwards to accommodate them and they shake hands with Billy Windsor now and again.
The FAW know that anyone turning up to the Cardiff City Stadium for a competitive game is likely to be a football supporter all year round. Can the WRU say the same about the rugby international crowds? Are fans of the regional and club sides – the all-year-round rugby supporters – staying at home because the matchday experience is a load of shite or they’ve been priced out? Maybe it’s time to save the corporate stuff for the boxes and give the stands back to the supporters.
Let the professional game run itself – Not a single regular starting player for the Welsh men’s football team plays in the Welsh domestic pyramid and only a few of the squad play their club football in Wales. Amongst the women’s team, almost all of the players play for English clubs. I don’t see why it should be a strict requirement for the best Welsh rugby players to play their club rugby in Wales.
The best players will want to play for the best clubs and make as much money as possible given it’s a short career. While there have been attempts to make the URC a strong enough competition in its own right, it’s still third fiddle to the English Premiership and Top 14 in terms of pulling power and financial clout.
One of the main reasons Wales reached Euro 2016 is because the core players were playing at the highest level – and even Tottenham.
At the moment there’s no real transfer market in rugby and it generally operates using something similar to the Bosman rule, but there may be room for a US-style draft system for the most promising young players or the introduction of a transfer window to generate funding.
If the regions/clubs develop a player then they deserve proper compensation which they can then reinvest – but they have to be allowed to stand or fall on their own merits and decisions. Much like the FAW, the WRU would be left to manage the national teams and the semi-pro/club/community game. The argument around the number of regional sides/clubs, their territorial make up, number and very purpose/existence is one for others who know the game better than I do.
